Mitch Daniels Draft?
US NEWS Washington Whispers reporter Paul Bedard wonders if we may still see Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels in the 2012 race for the White House. The Hoosier governor has a new book, Keeping the Republic, Saving America by Trusting Americans, ready for the bookstores in September — just a few months away from Iowa and New Hampshire.
Highlights from the book:
• Work to restore American participation in government.
• Stop calling Social Security and Medicare “entitlements,” and instead call them the “safety net,” so the nation gets away from looking at the programs as must-have gifts.
• Means test Social Security and raise the eligibility age, while grand fathering older Americans in.
• Cut federal spending, slash the federal workforce, and reduce the pay of those who remain employees of Uncle Sam.
• Consider military spending cuts.
• Eliminate all taxes on savings, including capital-gains tax.
• Reform welfare again with an interesting system of handing the poor cash to use as they see fit, moving to a “culture of independence,” and eliminating bureaucracies that run food stamp, health, housing, and other agencies.
• Kill federal regulations that hurt businesses.
• Expand American production of energy, including wind and biofuels.
• Allow more legal immigration to attract “those with brains or money to invest…”
I would pay money to watch Daniels debate these points with President Obama, along with watching the Secret Service step in and rescue the president from himself. Daniels intellect and plain-speaking would overpower Obama who should have served as mayor of Calumet City, IL before going to the big leagues.
Cable channels will give Daniels plenty of free air time to hawk his book, but I doubt “The Blade” will run at this late date (although Texas Governor Rick Perry is announcing in a few days and Governor Palin remains interested in something other than Alaska in August), but whomever the GOP nominee is he or she had better adopt what George Will refers to as the “Daniels Doctrine.”
Unwind after a 634 drop in the Dow . . .
by listening to some haunting, soothing piano keys played by Scott Tobin who does a remake of Air’s “Alone In Kyoto” from the Lost in Translation movie soundtrack.
Ronan Farrow (Woody Allen’s Son)
My wife and I came across this Wikipedia post on Woody Allen’s biological son Ronan Farrow. I had no idea how accomplished he was at such a young age. Impressive. By the way does he look like Mia or what.
Big Liberal Blasts Obama
Out of a hundred different reasons to be disappointed by Republican turncoats who voted for Obama, none makes me more angry than the willful disregard for Obama’s past experience prior to joining the United States Senate. Most of us knew the guy was a lot of nothing, a front man for the radical left, but too many naive people were dazzled by his ability to use a teleprompter. These same people wanted someone who could “make government work.” Yet they broke rule #1 when hiring someone — read the resume.
Finally a liberal, Professor Drew Westen of Emory University, writes a piece in The New York Times (that’s NYT not FOX) that kicks President Obama from sunrise to sunset. Now conservatives should be warned that Westen’s 3,300 word piece is from the liberal perspective, but he does have the same beef that many of us on the right have held for several years.
Westen writes (my emphasis in bold):
As a practicing psychologist with more than 25 years of experience, I will resist the temptation to diagnose at a distance, but as a scientist and strategic consultant I will venture some hypotheses.
The most charitable explanation is that he and his advisers have succumbed to a view of electoral success to which many Democrats succumb — that “centrist” voters like “centrist” politicians. Unfortunately, reality is more complicated. Centrist voters prefer honest politicians who help them solve their problems. A second possibility is that he is simply not up to the task by virtue of his lack of experience and a character defect that might not have been so debilitating at some other time in history. Those of us who were bewitched by his eloquence on the campaign trail chose to ignore some disquieting aspects of his biography: that he had accomplished very little before he ran for president, having never run a business or a state; that he had a singularly unremarkable career as a law professor, publishing nothing in 12 years at the University of Chicago other than an autobiography; and that, before joining the United States Senate, he had voted “present” (instead of “yea” or “nay”) 130 times, sometimes dodging difficult issues.
Even though this professor is a lefty, the fact that he practices psychology holds a lot of weight for me in understanding the character of this incompetent president. For those who chose to ignore this lack of presidential resume during the years of 2007 and 2008 — thanks for nothing!
Brian Vargus: Melina Kennedy’s Record Fair Game
No major political campaign in Indiana goes unnoticed by Brian Vargus, the noted political science professor from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
Since at least the 1980s, Vargus has conducted independent polls and surveys. Local and national media outlets flock to him for his opinions and 10,000 ft. Hoosier perspective on election cycles that have featured Bayh(s), Quayle, O’Bannon, Daniels, Lugar, Kernan, Goldsmith, Orr, state legislative campaigns, city elections, but oddly enough no county coroner races.
He’s our version of Michael Barone.
Recently Indianapolis Star reporter John Tuohy covered mayoral candidate Melina Kennedy’s swipes at Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard regarding metro crime.
While both camps traded arrows over crime numbers. The issue of whether or not it was fair to criticize Kennedy’s role as deputy mayor in the Bart Peterson administration became part of the story.
Ballard campaign spokesman Kyle Walker on the Kennedy-Peterson connection:
Walker cited FBI statistics that showed violent crime rose 15 percent from 2000 until 2005 and property crimes rose 60 percent in those years.
. . .
“She touted crime-related experience from her role as deputy mayor in her run for prosecutor in 2006,” Walker said. And he said she cites her experience in the administration as a qualification to be the mayor.
“So, she clearly views her time in the Peterson administration as relevant,” Walker said.
Kennedy’s flack, Jon Mills, countered:
“She wasn’t chief of police or director of public safety. Her record on economic development is what matters,” he said. “They are trying to deflect blame from Ballard’s record.”
At this point Tuohy threw a red flag on the field and asked for further review by head referee Professor Vargus.
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis political scientist Brian Vargus said Kennedy’s record is a valid target.
“Calling up someone’s record in a prior administration is a common practice,” he said. “Whether parts of it are relevant or fair, that’s another matter.”
Of course Kennedy’s record was always fair game, but now that Vargus has weighed in with his imprimatur, Kennedy shouldn’t expect her time as a top advisor in Mayor Peterson’s inner circle to go unnoticed.
————–
By the way Indiana Barrister offers excellent analysis of those Indy crime stats and Kennedy’s weak plan to combat the bad guys.
NYT’s Charles Blow: Class Warfare Dealer
Whenever The New York Times “visual” columnist Charles Blow takes a seat at the MSNBC Morning Joe roundtable, he sits upright and with serene confidence sells himself as the Reasonable One. His condescending tone to conservatives like Patrick J. Buchanan is really something to behold. Charles delivers weak punches when he debates Buchanan who, with his Jesuit training, years of Crossfire experience, and his jolly laugh, can usually defeat Charles and three other Manhattan elitists in one segment on Joe Scarborough’s morning liberal gabfest — that is, if Joe lets anyone get a word in edgewise.
Charles saves his harder left hooks for his Saturday columns. He recently painted robust word pictures of blue-collar workers, reminding me of Studs Terkel’s Working, a collection of interviews with folks who work ordinary jobs — well ordinary to leftists. We have to remember that for liberals the greatest calling in life is that of tenured professor at a politically correct college that portrays conservatives as war criminals. Liberals are so open-minded, you know.
Charles wrote the following about his Tour of the Deep South where he observed the proletariat in action.
They are honest people who do honest work — crack-the-bones work; lift-it, chop-it, empty-it, glide-it-in-smooth work; feel-the-flames-up-close work; crawl-down-in-there work — things that no one wants to do but that someone must.
They are women whose skin glistens from steam and sweat, whose hands stay damp from being dipped in buckets and dried on aprons. They are men who work in boots with steel toes, the kind that don’t take shining, the kind that lean over and tell stories when you take them off.
Nothing wrong there, but instead of stopping at the water’s edge of class warfare, Charles treats the Common Person as a poker chip to play against Republicans.
Here he lays his cards on the table (bold emphasis mine):
They, too, sing America. But they’re the ones less talked about — either not glamorous enough or rancorous enough. They are the ones without champions, waiting for Democrats to gather the gumption to defend the working poor with the same ferocity with which Republicans protect the filthy rich, waiting for a tomorrow that never comes.
Now Charles is too sophisticated (after all he does work for The Gray Lady) not to realize that blue-collar workers aren’t some monolithic sociological species any more than rich people are “filthy” — an odd word choice, but perhaps one that a propaganda minister of WWII Germany might use in a certain context.
Is Charles bitter that he didn’t find these workers sabotaging American capitalists and holding secret community organizing meetings while shouting, “Viva La Revolution! Is he dumbfounded by blue-collar conservative values? Does he understand that many plumbers, electricians, welders, famers, and carpenters work as private contractors? Tough workers who can feel every melting degree of a 110 heat index. Yet they know that an Obama government doubling down on their hard earned paychecks and against a traditional Red, White, and Blue Americana casts doubt on prosperity for their kids.
And speaking of the rich, does Charles not understand that much of the country’s wealth is concentrated in Boston, New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Hollywood, San Francisco, and Seattle and other blue vote rich environs? Much of this wealth is flowing in a billion dollar campaign jet stream to our president who raises more cash and plays more golf than any other president this century and perhaps of all time. An out of work caddie like Steve Williams should pitch his services to President Obama who is no more a narcissist than Tiger.
Pitting the rich, poor, and middle class against each other endangers our country. It robs those who have worked hard and it tells those struggling that there is no hope for them. It is anti-American. We are a nation of free individuals who crack stereotypes by holding different political beliefs no matter our station in life. National columnists who are fortunate enough to sit at influential tables should be called out when they traffic in class warfare.
I have been a fan of Rand Paul, but with this video I am a Big Fan. I want to move to Kentucky. I want to work on his Senate staff. I don’t care if he gives me a desk in the mail room to tally the amount of hate letters he gets from the Leftist Big Government Socialists. He is clear thinking, sober minded, articulate, and damn right!
Rand Paul is worthy of following the footsteps of the Founders of this country.
If not MyManMitch, why not Dan Quayle?
Mitch Daniels has only himself to blame if he jumps on the presidential candidate bus. By arguing his case so well in op-eds and speeches as well as garnering a fan base across the country, he has boxed himself into a corner. The Indiana governor has proven that a conservative approach to government works. Daniels also, God bless him, has a patience meter measuring “seventy times seven” for those awful Goldilocks independents who hold every election hostage to their sensitive and sanctimonious whims and fancies.
Therefore, Mitch must run!
However Daniels is delaying that decision until House Minority Leader Pat Bauer and his vacationing chums return to Indianapolis to finish the business of the current Indiana legislative session (if these Democrats stay much longer in Illinois, they may be subject to that state’s burdensome income tax rate).
When session ends, the governor will face the cameras and announce whether he’s in or out of the maddening race for the White House.
But perhaps Daniels will announce his retirement from politics effective at the end of 2012. It’s still a free country, for the most part, and no stone tablets have been found with the chiseled words, “Thou shalt run for president.”
So what about former Vice President Dan Quayle?
It’s not like he left Washington in 1992 and joined a monastery or took cover in an undisclosed location. He has been active in Republican fundraising circles and his son Ben represents an Arizona congressional district. Quayle shuttles around the world tending to his investment banking projects where he witnesses first hand the economic challenges facing America. He probably has a foreign policy Rolodex that matches the gravitas of the one owned by the president that he once served.
More importantly, Quayle is a true Reaganite. He is a happy warrior unlike many of today’s contenders especially Ms. Alaska. He understands, small “r,” republican constitutional government. During his 1986 U.S. Senate campaign, Quayle’s speeches contained passionate references to freedom and liberty — concepts that our current government-ladened president fails to grasp.
Oh of course MSNBC will resurrect those 1988 New Orleans tapes when then Vice President George H.W. Bush picked a very caffeinated Indiana senator as his running mate. They will mock the ol’ family values speech again and flock to Candice Bergen for a clever Murphy Brown quote to chide Quayle.
I’m betting that some readers of this column have no idea of what I am referring to in the previous paragraph. They don’t care.
Most of America, except for aging Michael Dukakis groupies, won’t give much thought either to some of Quayle’s gaffes on the speaking circuit during those days.
Let’s face it after Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Monica Lewinsky, oodles of Clinton presidency scandals, Al Gore, warm and fuzzy Dick Cheney, the syntax of President George W. Bush, Rummy, an economic collapse, and a president who clings to his teleprompter, the former vice president looks like the adult in the room.
Let’s not forget if Vice President Joe Biden had “Republican Party” next to his name that the snide progressives of the NY-DC-LA axis of evil would rate him as the biggest clown in politics.
So after nearly twenty years, Dan Quayle has aged like fine wine. He is wise, savvy, and cares deeply about his country. We certainly know more about Quayle than we did about candidate Obama in 2008 (thanks to the know-nothing independents who willfully ignored Obama’s record and experience prior to that historic election day).
Who knows with his son in Congress, maybe Quayle the Elder has the itch to return to the playing field.
The late Joe Sobran, a noted conservative writer (and an infamous prickly one at times) during the golden age of National Review, had some interesting words for Quayle in 2006. He wrote:
What are the Republicans going to do in 2008? Recent events have taken a heavy toll on their prospective presidential candidates. . .
That leaves one man: Dan Quayle. Not only is he eligible, but he has executive experience and would raise the Republicans’ intellectual level. Everything old is new again.
Quayle has never been a media darling, but his image is still youthful, yet he has powerful nostalgic appeal. He is untouched by scandal; he has never shot a hunting companion; he is not known to be gay; he has written no dirty books; he has no lesbian children; he was born in this country; he has never started a war or antagonized a major ethnic community; he is not being sued by an embittered former wife. His only known flaw is poor spelling.
As Republicans go, Quayle is a fascinating enigma. If anything, he is perhaps too perfect.
If Mitch doesn’t run, Indiana may still gain a favorite son in the White House.
Benefits of Capitalism!
Yes it is a commercial for touting the benefits of evil capitalism or whatever the Left would say. Unfortunately, I’ll probably be sitting in a nursing home by the time Corning produces all this cool stuff for the masses.
Update:
Of course someone will have to clean all those fingerprints. #iPad
Saturday Funny
I love the voices and the message regarding the Indiana House Democrats. From NotInKokomo.
